Re: 5-HTP lowers dopamine and norepinephrine

> Here is a quote out of a book I read recently;> “In the early 1970s, Herman van Praag, M.D., and colleagues discovered that about one out of five patients who responded well to 5-HTP tended to relapse after one month of treatment. The antidepressant effects of 5-HTP in these subjects began to wear off gradually after the first month despite the fact that the level of 5-HTP in their blood, and presumably the level of serotonin in the brain, remained at the same level as when they were experiencing a benefit. These researchers discovered that, while serotonin levels appeared to stay at the same levels after one month of treatment, the levels of the other important monoamine neurotransmitters, dopamine and norepinephrine, declined. These patients responded to supplemental tyrosine.” (Tyrosine is a precursor to dopamine and norepinephrine.)> Does this research sound right? If it is, does this same mechanism of 5-HTP ‘poop-out’ explain SSRI ‘poop-out’. Would then tyrosine help with SSRI poop-out. Would SSRI poop out also respond to augmentation with a NARI (norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor) such as reboxetine and a dopamine enhancing agent such as amisulpride or pramipexole (Mirapex). Does this research help explain the sometimes effectiveness, where SSRIs have failed, of older antidepressants (i.e. parnate) which act not only on serotonin but also norepinephrine and dopamine.

Effexor XR supposedly affects serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. Is this why it works without 'poop-out'? It also seems to have fewer sexual side effects than just plain SSRI's. I have read that serotonin decreases sexual functioning, while dopamine increases it. Maybe selective reuptake inhibitors are not as effective as those that take into the account of the interaction and feedback effect of one neurotransmitter on another?--Cindy W